Game board



W` HOUSEKNECHT Feb. 2l, 1939.

Patented Feb. 21, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GAME BOARD WalterHouseknecht, Highland Park, Mich.

Application November 16, 1936, Serial No. 110,963

1 Claim.

This invention relates to game boards and particularly to game boardsformed in'sections and collapsible to form a box for the pieces playedon the board, such as checkers or chess men.

An object of the invention is to form a game board of four hingedlyconnecte-d sections, substantially equal in thickness, so as to eachseat solidly and throughout its bottom area on a table, when the boardis opened out for use, two of said sections having their bottom facessimilarly recessed, so as to jointly form a container, when the board isfolded, for the pieces used on the board.

Another object is to apply to the top face of the board a strong butflexible sheet of fabric on which is printed or otherwise impressed, adesign or pattern determining the positions and movement of the pieces,said fabric being further used to establish a hinge connection betweencertain of the sections.

These and various other objects are attained by the constructionhereinafter described and illustrated in the accompanying drawing,wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the board collapsed and forming a box.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the board, partially opened out, andparticularly showing the box formation.

Fig. 3 is a perspective bottom view of the board fully opened out.

Fig. 4 is a top View of the board fully opened out.

In these views. the reference characters I, 2, 3, 4and 4 designate thefour sections which comprise the board, said sections being formedpreferably of heavy cardboard, and all equal in size and of asubstantially square shape. The bottom faces of the sections I and 2 aresimilarly recessed throughout their major areas, as indicated at 5, tojointly form a container for pieces to be played on the board, such asthe checkers 6. Said sections are hingedly connected by a strip 1 ofstrong but thin fabric cemented or glued to the adjoined margins of thesections, upon their bottom faces.

5 The sections 3 and 4 are hinged to corresponding edges of the sectionsI and 2, these hinge connections being established preferably by twosheets 8 of strong fabric, one cemented or glued to the top faces of thesections I and 4, and the other to the top faces of the sections 2 and3,

fully covering such faces.

The sheets 8 further carry a pattern or design to generally determinethe positions and moves of the pieces, such as the well-knownarrangement of squares, illustrated in Fig. 4.

Fig. 1.

As compared to prior sectional game boards exercising an additional boxfunction, the described board, when opened out seats rmly and securelyon a table throughout its bottom area, and employs ncl feet orprojections that might mar a table or prevent the board from lying peri.

Also the hinge connection between fectly flat.

the several sections of the board is considerably simpler and lessexpensive in applicants construction than in prior disclosures.

'I'he invention is presented as including al1 such modifications andchanges as come within the scope of the following claim.

What I claim is:

A game board comprising four sections, two thereof having their bottomfaces recessed to jointly form a box when folded one upon the other,such box serving to receive pieces played on the board, an elongatedflexible strip of sheet material forming a hinge connection betweenadjoined edges of said recessed sections, the other two sections beinghinged to corresponding edges of the two recessed sections transverse totheir connected edges, all of said sections having substantially thesame thickness, whereby they may each have similar engagement with asupporting surface, and means, in sheet form, applied to the top facesof the sections, forming the hinge connections between the recessedsections and the other two sections, and further receiving a patterndetermining proper positioning of the pieces on the board.

